Hope everyone had a good holiday season! Went down to NYC for Christmas, and the kids enjoyed it. My daughter loves to unwrap everything, even if it wasn’t hers, lol. My son was more interested in her new toys than he was in his, but that’s alright, he’s only a few months old anyway. Ringing in the New Year was very quiet. Turned off the phone and stayed up late with the hubby. Now that he has returned to work though, it feels so quiet and empty. With the bustle of the holidays though, didn’t leave much time to read, with everything else going on. Bummer.

With the new year, the resolution I made is to get a library card, and start checking stuff out on weekends. I want to read different things this year, and I’ve started to look up books to get. Thinking of starting with Japan first. Culture, fiction, trying to find some biographies. No manga though, already got a bunch of those between my husband and myself! After that.. Maybe I’ll try to find some stuff from Africa, Australia, Ireland. I stumbled across a spreadsheet detailing the top 1001 books to read before you die. I’m not sure if I’ll get to all of them, but it’s a great place to find some books to pick up. I’ve realized I never read Jane Austen before, so that’s a definite must. Of course, I still have a few ARC’s in my pile that desperately need reading, which brings me to..

Forgotten Tales of Rhode Island, by Jim Ignasher. I originally spotted this book, among a few others, in the Early Reviewer’s list. I honestly didn’t think I’d have a shot of getting it, since I don’t have any other Rhode Island or history related books in my current cataloged library, so I shot them an email. They very graciously sent me a copy, which I brought down with me to read in New York.
It’s a short book, but it’s filled with little known stories and tales. Some were laugh at loud worthy, others made me “holy cow” or “oh my god.” It was fun learning though. One of the best stories I read was about the Ida Lewis Rock lighthouse, originally known as Lime Rock. Ida Lewis gained fame as the first female lighthouse keeper in the United States. She’s been credited with as many as 35 lives rescued, including 2 soldiers from the nearby Fort Adams.13 years after her death, state legislature voted, and approved the name change in her honor. It is the only time such an honor was bestowed.
There are other stories, such as a Cranston police officer that was only on the force for the honor – he owned several businesses. He donated a Model T Ford to the city to use. Plenty of stories about hot air balloons and wild animals, both escaped and confined. There was a story of a trolley car that had a problem while going downhill. Believing it would crash, one gentleman jumped off while the others held on. No accident occurred, and the only injury belonged to the jumping man.
It’s a light, quick, enjoyable read. I think it’d be a nice supplement to a social studies or history course, inject some local flavor and humor.

I’m pretty sure I had at least 1 or 2 other books I had to review, just have to go through my stuff and find them.